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scribblings on them. One was to ward off devils; it said, no devil may enter here." The other was against sickness. In this way the people think themselves quite safe.
Continuing down the stony bed of the stream which flows past Yangpuyausze through narrow winding valleys we emerged at Hsikowmen on to the great plain on which stands Kweihuacheng the mountains to the north of the plain being just visible through a slight sandstorm. There are many villages dotted about the plain and the population of these is entirely Chinese; all look prosperous and the houses clean and neat. Part of the plain is well cultivated but a large portion is impregnated with alkaline salts. Streams unnavigable even for small boats flow down gently to the west into the Yellow River and these and the marshes formed by them are full of geese and duck. Sleeping a night at Yangkouban we entered Kweihuacheng on the 19th April.
Kweihuacheng.
Kweichuacheng, the Mongol Kukuhoto, is a busy thriving town which might do twice as much business as it at present does were only the means of communication improved in all directions. The population is said to be over 100,000 of which the greater number is Chinese, though the actual land on which the houses are built is owned by Mongols,
There are, however, always a fair number of Mongols who have either come for purposes of trade or are on their way to Wutaishan. Unlike the usual Chinese town Kweihuacheng lies scattered on the plain entirely unprotected by walls except for a small portion of great antiquity which is situated in the midst of a labyrinth of narrow winding
streets.
There are Roman Catholic and China Inland Mission stations, the former conducted by native pastors only, the latter by Swedes.
There is an office of the Chinese Imperial Posts which seems entirely reliable, but no telegraph as yet. Letters are sent by means of runners who travel 20 miles and hand their mail bag to another man waiting for it; in this manner the mails travel day and night.
There is no question of any railway having been begun at Kweihuacheng as yet. All the coal used here comes from the neighbourhood of Salatsi two days (60 miles) distance by cart to the west. The coal is excellent and abundant,
Living is much less expensive here than it is in Peking; the following prices are interesting: 150 dollars for a Peking cart, 30 to 200 dollars for a mule, a sheep 68. to 18s., a camel 47. 10s. to 121., a pony 37. 10s, as against 71. in Peking.
A great number of mules are bred in the neighbourhood.
The chief exports are: ponies, cattle, mules, sheep, camels, skins, sheepskins, fur, wool, grain, beans, and tobacco,
There are no Russian merchants but a few visit the town from time to time on. business mostly connected with tea; they have no houses or godowns of their own but when they come inhabit the inns.
The streets are very full of police who do their work somewhat officiously but this may be explained by the fact that since 1900, when the Boxer storm broke over Kweihuacheng and the neighbourhood with especial vehemence, the authorities have been extremely zealous in seeing to the welfare of foreigners.
In Kweihuacheng I saw the first instance I had yet seen in China of an attempt at a poor house, though perhaps the name beggars' home more fitly describes it. It was a building capable of holding 600 people and is open to any beggars who care to enter; it is maintained by the Taotai who supplies rice, not money, to the amount of two meals a day to each inmate. A staff of four or five, of whom two are cooks, the others being supposed to keep the place clean are in charge of the building. Beggars who come in strip themselves naked and just lie on the káng. On the day of my visit, there were only twenty inmates and they were all lying in what was, at the same time, the kitchen. No restrictions seem to be placed on their movements, and if they like, they may spend. the whole of the day in the street begging. It is said that to stifle the cries of those who only drift into the refuge to die mud is stuffed in their mouths. Though the dirt of the inhabitants of the place and the stench of their rags were indescribable yet these gentlemen resent the arrival of any beggar whom they consider too dirty for their society and oust him. I came across one pitiable case-a man lying, at his last gasp- and almost unrecognizable as a human being, owing to dirt, in the road just outside the gate of this asylum to which he could not enter because he was too dirty.
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Hsincheng.
Two miles to the east of Kweihuacheng lies Hsincheng, "New Town." When the Manchu wave of conquest had engulphed the Mongol town of Kukuhoto the Manchus built a new town" for themselves in the neighbourhood. This became the fortress, and was surrounded by high walls of the usual type and entered by strong gateways at the cardinal points. The town was solely for Manchu inhabitants. Hsincheng has maintained all these characteristics, and has therefore a dreary lifeless appearance. Marshy fields separate it from Kweihuacheng.
The town is surrounded by groves of fine trees, and the interior is well laid out, the roads being broad and good, but the buildings are poor and squalid. The population, exclusively Manchu, is about 3,000. The city is policed by forty men all dressed in neat uniform. They look efficient, but are too numerous for the infinitesimal amount of traffic. Their pay is 6s. a-month, as against 18s, in Peking, but living in the capital is, of course, dearer. There are barracks for the Manchu soldiers just outside the west gate. Between the two cities of Kweihuacheng and Hsincheng are further barracks for the Chinese troops.
The only attempt that I could find at Kweihuacheng that had been made to enforce the Imperial wishes respecting the amalgamation of the Manchus and Chinese is the withdrawal of the restriction respecting mixed marriages, but as these rarely take place owing to the ridicule to which the bride is exposed in her husband's family on account of the size, large or small, of her feet, as the case may be, it may be said to be as yet a dead letter.
The Government of Kweihuacheng and Hsincheng is carried on by means of a Chiangchun (Tartar General), who has charge of the Manchus, and should reside in Hsincheng, a Tutung, who is in charge of Mongol interests, and a Taotai, who seems to look after what the other officials do not. The Chiangchun and Tutung were
both disgraced in April 1908, but new men have doubtless been appointed. The Taotai is said to be progressive, and to have opened a number of schools in the last two years.
Opium (between Peking and Kweihuacheng),
At Hsuanhuafu I learnt that beyond the publication of the Imperial Edicts against the use of opium and the closing of a few shops little had (up to April 1907) been done officially, and opium smoking continued unabated. As regards land under poppy cultivation, the ground is not very favourable for it; still the best ground formerly was given up to it, and a marked improvement is said to have been made in this respect within the last two years. From Kalgan there is better news to report. The opium shops and dens had all been closed, and opium was being sold at a Government shop in small sealed packets to licensed smokers. Some of the officials were said to be opium smokers. I learnt that a number of Mongols had been ruined by opium.
At Tatungfu the anti-opium movement found a ready response at first, but the people were confused by the number of Imperial utterances on the subject, and, finding themselves unsupported by the officials, had ceased to take any further steps on their own behalf, and were smoking and planting the poppy as much as before. The officials had paid no attention to that portion of the Decree dealing with the registration of smokers, but were awakening to the fact that they must do something in obedience to the Government's wishes. The same story was told at the small district town of Tientschonn to the east of Tatungfu.
At Sopingfu nothing had been done with the exception of the issue of a few Proclamations; neither shops nor dens had been closed, nor was there any diminution in the amount of land under poppy cultivation. The officials, however, were said not to smoke. The poverty of the town is said to be largely due to the use of opium.
Exactly the same report applies to Kweihuacheng.
SECTION II.-KWEIHUACHENG TO NINGHSIA, IN KANSU, ACROSS THE ORDOS.
Transport.
The best form of transport for travelling in the Ordos is undoutedly camels. Camel carts and mule carts are possible, but difficult, owing to the quantity of drift sands, and they are, therefore, much more expensive than camels,
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